Ready, Set, Go
by Jounetsu-no-Hana
Summary: Rikku is eight, and she's curious about something. And of course, Gippal's there to help her out! Oneshot


**I don't think it's that great, but I decided to put it up anyway. R&R Please!**

Rikku and Gippal watched as Brother kissed a girl with short blonde hair clumsily and then come into the room, glance at the two of them, and go to his room, smiling broadly. They both watched where he was, and then Rikku spoke up.

"I don't get it." Rikku said.

"Don't get what?" Gippal said, poking a doll that was left absently on the ground with his toe.

"What's so great about kissing? I mean, Brother thinks it's cool, and I've seen dad kiss girls before, but I don't get why. Do you?" she asked, turning her head to Gippal. He shook his head, still looking at the doll. He grinned and picked it up.

"She looks kinda like you." He said, showing it to her. The doll had a pretty face. But the hair was a rats nest form the rough handling she gave the doll. She took the doll from Gippal and looked at it, then smiled at him. She couldn't tell whether he was complimenting her or joking.

"Thank you! Does your mom kiss anyone?" She said, going back to a subject that she was interested in. Gippal nodded.

"Other boys come to my house a lot. And sometimes she kisses them. But she tells me I'm not allowed to kiss anybody, not unless I really like them." He said, looking back at the floor. He never looked Rikku in the eye ever since he had lost his right eye the year before. Rikku understood though. Most people looked at him funny. But she wouldn't look at him funny.

"Because I'm your friend." She said out loud. Gippals eyebrows scrunched up in confusion, though he watched the toe of his shoe.

"Huh?"

"You're my best friend, so I wouldn't laugh at you if you looked me in the eye." And he did. He looked at her. She easily had all her attention on his swirly green eye, and didn't even glance at his eye patch. She noticed that his eye had tighter swirls than hers did. Her swirls were kind of floaty and spaced, but his spiral had little space between the lines.

"You're tryin' not to look…" Gippal said, sounding crest fallen and turning his attention back to his scuffed shoe.

"No I'm not! It's because I really like you, just like your mom said!" she said, closing her eyes and nodding, smiling brightly. Gippal gave her a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're my best friend, and _you're_ a boy." She said. She didn't understand why she was getting so embarrassed about this. She only wanted to know why everyone liked kissing so much, so, why not with Gippal. Still, he seemed not to understand.

"I wanna know why people like kissing so much!" She said. Gippal's face almost immediately went red. She tilted her head, but continued to look thoughtfully at him.

"But my mom told me…" he said, trailing off. Rikku felt a bit angry with him

"You don't like me?" She snapped, putting her fists on her hips and looking as menacing as an eight year old can look. It was still pretty frightening to Gippal, who despite being a year older that her, was timid if she threatened him.

"No, it's not that! It's just; she told me that I should only kiss people that I love. And I don't know what she meant, 'cause I don't know what love is. Is it a disease?"

"I know! It's not a disease, silly! It's when you really _really_ like someone, and you want them to be with you forever and ever!" Gippal was silent for a moment.

"That's _it_?" Gippal asked, sounding disappointed. Rikku nodded. Gippal stayed quiet after that.

"Well, since that's love, I love _you_ Gippal." Rikku said, watching him expectantly. Rikku saw his face turn red again.

"I love you too, kid." He said quietly. Neither of them knew exactly what they were saying.

"Good! Than that means that we can kiss!" Rikku said, scooting closer to him.

"What?!" Gippal exclaimed, stumbling back.

"Please? I just wanna know what it's like!" Rikku said. Gippal rubbed the back of his head, and looked at her.

"Okay." He nearly whispered. Rikku clapped her hands and immediately leaned forward and kissed him. She heard him gasp and move back a bit, but she moved forward in response. They didn't really do anything, just stared into each others eyes with confusion and expectancy flowing in them. When Rikku pulled away, she stayed leaning over him, her face tilted to one side. Gippal shuffled away and looked at the ceiling.

"I don't get it either." He said. Rikku sat back down and looked where he was looking. He didn't often look up when he was avoiding her eyes. He usually looked down.

"Why d'you think daddy likes kissing so much?" Rikku asked, looking back at him. He just shrugged.

"Maybe we're not doing it right." He said. Rikku lay on her back and watched the white ceiling.

"I don't like kissing that much." She stated simply.

"Me neither. Wanna go outside? It's boring in here." Gippal said, standing up. Rikku flipped over and stood up as well.

"Okay!" she said. "I bet I'll win." She added tauntingly.

"Fine. Ready, set, GO!"


End file.
